Haiti Key Message Update: The impact of the closure of the Dominican border on acute food insecurity in Haiti is limited, September 2023 – Haiti

Insecurity due to gang activities that disrupt economic activities and market functioning, the irregularity of rainfall from January to May on agricultural performance, above-average temperatures favoring increased soil evapotranspiration, a lack of employment opportunities, and inflation remain the main causes of food insecurity in Haiti. As a result, acute food insecurity Emergency (IPC Phase 4) persist in Cité Soleil, and Crisis (IPC Phase 3) remain widespread throughout the country.

The four departments (Nord-Est, Nord, Centre, Sud-Est, and Ouest) likely to be most affected by the closure of the Dominican border by the Dominican government, following the initiative by civil society in Ouanaminthe (Haiti) to resume the construction of the canal for a water intake on the Massacre River, are already in Crisis (IPC Phase 3), according to FEWS NET forecasts. An increase in population in Crisis remains possible, at least in the short term. However, the impact of the border closure will be mitigated by informal trade, seasonal food and income sources, and year-end festivities.

The closure also comes at a time when food and income sources are reaching their seasonal peak in Haiti. Apart from condiments and certain market gardening products, products imported from the Dominican Republic are of relatively limited importance in the typical Haitian diet (rice is the most important staple in the typical Haitian diet, and 95 percent of Haiti’s imported rice supply comes from the United States).

Moreover, since the border closure, except for certain products such as corn and eggs, whose prices have risen by around 20% in the Cap-Haïtien and Ouanaminthe markets, the general price trend has remained stable or downward nationwide.

Despite the ultimatum from the Dominican Republic government to halt construction of the canal, the Haitian government reaffirmed, in its speech to the 78th UN General Assembly, the right of Haitians to use water from the Massacre River, just as the Dominican Republic does. He pledged to pursue the construction of this canal and called on the Ministry of Agriculture to take charge of its completion to meet the water needs of farmers. As a result, the availability of irrigation water in the Maribaroux plain, the country’s second-largest rice-growing plain after the Artibonite plain, is likely to improve agricultural production in the communes of Ouanaminthe and Ferrier, at least in the medium term. Given that water is one of the main factors limiting agricultural development in Haiti, the construction of this and other canals along the Massacre River, in line with the wishes of the Haitian population, would help boost national agricultural production and, consequently, improve local food availability in the near future.